Who would you pick to play Marilyn Monroe in a biopic? Well, the choice director Andrew Dominik (The Assassination Of Jesse James…) has gone for is Naomi Watts, who will star in Blonde, an adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates imaginary Monroe memoir.
Dominik explained his desire to make the film by saying, Why is Marilyn Monroe the great female icon of the 20th Century? For men she is an object of sexual desire that is desperately in need of rescue. For women, she embodies all the injustices visited upon the feminine, a sister, a Cinderella, consigned to live among the ashes… I want to tell the story of Norma Jean as a central figure in a fairytale; an orphan child lost in the woods of Hollywood, being consumed by that great icon of the twentieth century.
Watts is an interesting choice for Marilyn, and possibly a very good one. Numerous other attempts to make a Monroe biopic have been scuppered by wranglings and indecision over who should take on playing such an iconic figure, with some actresses afraid to touch it, and others not getting near the role because producers were worried they pilloried. However Watts should be able to handle the balance between Mariliyn’s superstar persona and her more human side, without upsetting too many people. (Source: Screen International)